A celebrated French writer and Noble prize winner. He was noted for his early communist sympathoes and his support for Gay rights.
Andre Gide was born on 22 Novemner 1869 in Paris. His father who was a professor of law at The Sorbonne) died whilst he was young but he continued to live with his mother and attended the Protestant Ecole Alsacienne.
He produced his first book "Les Nourritures terrestres and L’Immoraliste" in 1891, published at his own expense. It proclaimed the need for individual liberation and self-fulfilment. He published "Corydon" in the 1920's although it was actually written before WW1. This is seen as a “gay manifesto” and he wasn’t confident to publish it at first
Gide became very famous in the 1920’s as a left-wing activist and he signed many petitions and was a popular speaker at anti-fascism meetings. He joined the communist party in 1932 and this was seen as a coup and was much publicised. However he visited Russia on a trip sponsored by Nouvelle Revue Francaise (which he had helped to found in 1909) and his subsequent criticism of the Soviet State led to him being accused of betraying the communist cause. He took exception to the apparent repugnance felt by the communists to his belief in personal freedom and moral individualism. A feeling that was felt equally by the fascists.
His great successes were his translations of Hamlet, Kafka’s The Trial and a production of his own Les Caves du Vatican.
In 1947 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature and received an honorary degree from Oxford University.
Many great thinkers and writers such as Satre and Camus payed tribute to him after his death on 19th February 1951 and acknowledged his influence upon their work.
Bibliography:
Fiction:
Le traite de Narcisse (1891).
Paludes (1896).
Les Nourritures terrestres (1897).
L’Immoraliste (1902).
La Porte etroite (1924).
Les Caves du Vatican (1914).
La Symphonie pastorale (1919).
Les Faux-Monnayeurs (1926).
These (1946).
Drama:
Le Roi Candaule (1901).
Non-fiction:
Pretextes (1903).
Souvenirs de la cours d’assise (1914).
Dostoievsky (1923).
Corydon (1923).
Voyage au Congo
(1928).
Retour de L’URSS.
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